Rob Edwards

Fracking: its economic, environmental and climate impact in Scotland

from Sunday Herald, 19 February 2017

Frack is a harsh, ugly word, with unpleasant connotations. If public arguments were won or lost on single words, the fracking industry would be on a hiding to nothing. Fracked, as it were.

But the issue of whether or not to exploit Scotland’s reserves of underground shale gas is much more important than a word. It is hard not to feel sympathy with the industry’s public relations executives as they struggle to avoid the term, talking about hydraulic fracturing instead.

The long and tortured arguments over fracking in Scotland are now coming to a head. The Scottish Government has published six expert reports, launched a four-month public consultation, and is promising to take “a final decision by the end of 2017”.

The companies that want to drill for onshore gas and their political backers, the Conservative Party, are embroiled in a fight to the finish with their opponents: environmentalists, local communities, Scottish Greens and the Labour Party. The outcome, with the SNP as judge and jury, is difficult to predict.

The technology they are talking about is a method of drilling between one and three kilometres under the ground to extract tiny pockets of shale gas trapped in rock. Water, sand and chemicals would be pumped down wells and injected under pressure to fracture the rock and release the gas.

Forth coal gas plan postponed because of opposition

25 August 2015

The multi-millionaire oil tycoon, Algy Cluff, is delaying a planning application to gasify coal under the Firth of Forth in the face of mounting political opposition.

In a statement to shareholders, he discloses that “work on a planning application will likely be postponed until after such time as the political situation is more certain.” The application to pilot underground coal gasification (UCG) by test drilling off Kincardine in Fife was originally due to be made this autumn, but then was shifted to next year.

But now Cluff does not put a date on when the application might be, blaming “external factors”. These include, he says, “the on-going commission recently set up by the Scottish Government to review Scotland’s energy needs which is due to report in September 2015, a motion at the SNP Party Conference calling for the inclusion of UCG in its moratorium on onshore oil and gas and the Scottish Parliamentary Elections in May 2016.”

These moves all “have the ability to impact the development of the Kincardine project,” he says. “Accordingly we have deemed it prudent to await clarity on these matters before committing fully to, in particular, the expense of an environmental impact study.”

Cluff insists, however, that he is still committed to developing UCG in the Forth, and that work is continuing with regulators and the US oil giant, Halliburton, on technical aspects. “It remains our avowed intention to seek approval to install a pilot plant as soon as is practicable to generate limited production from the Firth of Forth before constructing Britain’s first UCG plant,” he says.

Coal gas contamination in Australia sparks fears of Scottish disaster

from The National, 17 August 2015

Revelations that an underground coal gas plant in Australia is facing prosecution for allegedly contaminating over 300 square kilometres of farmland have sparked fears that the same could happen in Scotland.

The Queensland government has launched a £3 million criminal court action accusing a mining company of leaking toxic chemicals and potentially explosive gases into the soil, water and air from a facility at Chinchilla, west of Brisbane. The charge sheet, seen by the Sunday Herald, says the contamination is “extensive and widespread” and that the harm caused is “irreversible”.

The technique of burning coal underground to extract gas for commercial use in Australia, known as underground coal gasification (UCG), is now planned for the Firth of Forth and the Solway Firth. Community and environmental campaigners fear it could be disastrous, and are stepping up their demands for UCG to be included in the Scottish Government’s fracking moratorium.

The companies proposing UCG in Scotland, however, say that their technologies will be different, deeper underground and safer. The Australian firm facing the contamination charges strongly denies them.

The Queensland government has imposed a 314 square kilometre “caution zone” around experimental UCG plants operated by Linc Energy in Chinchilla between 1999 and 2013. Digging below two metres is banned because of risks from explosions and pollution.

Ineos accused of planning to breach fracking moratorium

from Sunday Herald, 19 July 2015

The petrochemical giant, Ineos, is being accused of planning to flout the Scottish Government’s fracking moratorium by test drilling for shale gas in central Scotland.

The company has revealed that it is going to apply for planning permission to sink four or five wells to find out how much gas is trapped in underground rocks. This will not involve hydraulic fracturing, it says, and will be consistent with the government’s desire for further research.

But community and environmental groups angrily insist that test drilling would breach the moratorium and destroy public trust. They are demanding that ministers block Ineos’s applications.

A temporary moratorium on “the granting of planning consents for all unconventional oil and gas developments, including fracking” was announced by the Energy Minister, Fergus Ewing in January. He ordered local authorities and regulators not to permit developments while health risks were investigated and a public consultation was held.

The timescale for the investigation and consultation have yet to be announced, and they are now expected to extend beyond the Scottish election in May 2016. But Ineos has indicated that it wants to start test drilling and seismic testing for shale gas soon.

Energy Minister, Fergus Ewing, under fire for backing fracking

from The National, 29 April 2015

The Energy Minister, Fergus Ewing, has been accused of being a “fracking fan” following remarks he made to a BBC television documentary due to be screened this evening.

In an interview about fracking for underground shale gas Ewing says that “we need to think how it will be, how it may be, applied to Scotland” and talks about the “opportunities” the industry could bring. The comments have been seized on by campaigners as evidence that the minister thinks that fracking has a future.

Ewing announced a temporary moratorium on hydraulic fracturing and coalbed methane developments on 28 January. He promised a health investigation and a public consultation, which is not now expected to begin until the autumn.

In March INEOS, the Swiss-based company that runs the Grangemouth petrochemical complex, launched a charm offensive in a bid to win community support for fracking across the central belt. The firm has bought licences for shale gas exploration across 700 square miles of Scotland and aims to become “the biggest player in the UK shale gas industry”. 

In the BBC One programme, The War over Fracking, Ewing declines to say whether he will introduce a permanent ban if the Scottish public clearly rejects fracking. “Let’s look at the opportunities but also look very carefully at what it might mean for Scotland,” he says.

“We think it’s right with a technology, hydraulic fracturing, which is not new but it’s new to Scotland, we should proceed with care. We should proceed on the basis of evidence, and we should have a national debate about the topic.”

Delay to fracking consultation until November under fire

from Sunday Herald, 29 March 2015

Scottish ministers have been accused of “foot-dragging” after it emerged that the promised public consultation on fracking has been delayed until the autumn, pushing the outcome beyond the Scottish election in 2016.

 

The Sunday Herald understands from political sources that the Energy Minister, Fergus Ewing, is planning to tell the Scottish Parliament soon that the consultation will begin in November and run until January. This is months later than many were expecting.

The delay has been criticised by both the Scottish Greens, who oppose fracking, and by the Scottish Conservatives, who favour it. Community and environmental groups have cautiously welcomed the news, while the fracking industry has sounded neutral or kept silent.

When Ewing announced a temporary moratorium on fracking and coalbed methane developments on 28 January, he promised a health investigation and a public consultation. He said he would announce the consultation “in around two months” and it would last for 12 weeks.

But the delay now means that any decision to maintain or end the moratorium is unlikely to be made before the Scottish election in May 2016. The most advanced proposals for exploiting coalbed methane at Airth near Falkirk were originally scheduled to start in 2013.

Coal gas link to US oil giant Halliburton under fire

from The National, 23 February 2015

A new partnership with controversial US oil giant, Halliburton, to exploit coal gas under the Firth of Forth has come under fierce fire from environmentalists and politicians. 

The company that’s leading efforts to develop underground coal gasification (UCG), Cluff Natural Resources, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Halliburton. This launches a new collaboration aimed at commercialising exploration licences covering large parts of the Firth of Forth, starting with an area off Kincardine. 

At the weekend an alliance of 30 community and environmental groups wrote to the Scottish Energy Minister, Fergus Ewing, demanding that UCG be included in the government’s fracking moratorium. They expressed “grave concern” that it had been omitted, and highlighted health and environmental dangers. 

Ewing announced a temporary moratorium on onshore fracking and coalbed methane developments on 28 January. But he specifically excluded offshore UCG, despite having powers to include it.

Cluff Natural Resources, founded by the multi-millionaire oil tycoon, Algy Cluff, has been in talks with Fife and Falkirk council officials in recent weeks and is intending to make planning applications for the Kincardine scheme later this year. It announced on 13 February that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Halliburton.

Call for fracking moratorium to include undersea coal gas

from Sunday Herald, 22 February 2015

An alliance of communities across Scotland is demanding that the Scottish Government’s fracking moratorium be broadened to ban plans to ignite and gasify coal under the seabed around the coast. 

Nearly 30 campaign and environmental groups have this weekend written to the Energy Minister, Fergus Ewing MSP, asking for a halt to all underground coal gasification (UCG) developments because of the health and environmental risks. It is a “grave concern” that the technology has been omitted from the moratorium, they say.

Two private companies have advanced plans to gasify the coal that underlies large parts of the Firth of Forth and the Solway Firth. Between them they have five exploratory licences for the seabed off Kincardine, Musselburgh, Largo Bay, and in the middle of the two firths, plus an application pending for an area off Kirkcaldy. 

One company, Cluff Natural Resources, founded by the multi-millionaire oil tycoon, Algy Cluff, has been in talks with Fife and Falkirk council officials in recent weeks and is intending to make planning applications for a Kincardine scheme this year. The other, Five Quarter, is based in Newcastle and backed by an eight per cent investment from the UK’s largest private landowner, the Duke of Buccleuch.

Ewing announced a temporary moratorium on onshore fracking and coalbed methane developments on 28 January. But he specifically excluded offshore UCG from the ban, despite having powers to include it.

Undersea coal gas: a ‘gaping loophole’ in the government’s fracking ban

from Sunday Herald, 01 February 2015

The Scottish government’s much-lauded fracking moratorium will allow highly controversial plans to exploit coal gas under the seabed near Scotland’s coast to go ahead – despite ministers having powers to block the developments. 

Ministers are now facing mounting pressure to close what is seen as a “gaping loophole” in the temporary ban imposed on new gas technologies last week. The ban covers fracking for shale gas in the central belt and mining for coalbed methane at Falkirk and Canonbie, but it excludes the related and equally disputed technology known as underground coal gasification (UCG).

Two private companies have advanced plans to gasify the coal that underlies large parts of the Firth of Forth and the Solway Firth. Between them they have five exploratory licences for the seabed off Musselburgh, Kincardine, Largo Bay, and in the middle of the two firths, plus an application pending for an area off Kirkcaldy (see table below).

One company, Cluff Natural Resources, founded by the multi-millionaire oil tycoon, Algy Cluff, is sending a consultant to have talks with Fife Council planners this week. The other, Five Quarter, is based in Newcastle and backed by an eight per cent investment from the UK’s largest private landowner, the Duke of Buccleuch.

When the Energy Minister, Fergus Ewing MSP, announced the moratorium in the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday, he said that the Scottish government only had powers over onshore activities. “They do not apply to offshore activities such as those that I believe would be covered by UCG,” he told MSPs.

But the government’s Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) told the Sunday Herald that it would have to issue licences for UCG under at last two pollution control regimes. “It is likely that The Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulation and Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulation 2012, amongst others, will apply,” said Sepa’s head of operations, Lin Bunten.

Why the dash for onshore gas must end

Sunday Herald editorial, 25 January 2015

There has always been a touch of cognitive dissonance, when climate chaos is threatening, over the opening up of new fossil fuel frontiers.

Exploiting more of the earth's carbon resources when we know that to stay safe most of them will have to stay in the ground has never looked smart.

That is why this weekend's moves by the SNP and Labour to ban onshore gas developments - at least for a while - are to be welcomed. Crucially, as both parties made clear yesterday, the bans encompass coalbed methane as well as fracking for shale gas.

There are live proposals to mine coalbed methane near Falkirk and in Canonbie, and the prospect of fracking applications around Grangemouth from the chemical company, Ineos. Neither SNP MPs' backing for a UK moratorium of between 18 and 30 months nor Labour's conditional ban if they get elected mean that these plans are dead - but they are dying.

SNP MSP complains to Sturgeon over Ewing’s backing for Buccleuch coal gas plans

from Sunday Herald, 25 January 2015

A bitter behind-the-scenes row between two leading nationalists about exploiting onshore gas has resulted in a complaint to the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, the Sunday Herald can reveal. 

The south Scotland MSP, Joan McAlpine, has privately protested about the behaviour of the Scottish energy minister, Fergus Ewing, after he carpeted her for criticising the Duke of Buccleuch’s plans to mine coalbed methane at Canonbie in Dumfries and Galloway.

Ewing’s undisguised support for developing underground gas was damaging the government’s credibility in communities across Scotland, McAlpine warned Sturgeon. Canonbie residents fear that they have been “sold out” in a “stitch-up” by the minister. 

Opposition politicians have seized on the revelations, with the Greens suggesting that Ewing should be sacked. Ewing, however, has dismissed the criticisms as “without foundation”.

Political pressure on coalbed methane and fracking for shale gas is rising, with proposed moratoriums due to be put to a vote in the House of Commons on Monday. The Scottish government will also soon have to decide whether or not to give the go-ahead to a major application to extract coalbed methane at Airth, between Falkirk and Stirling.

SNP and Labour move to ban fracking and coal gas

from Sunday Herald, 25 January 2015

Plans to exploit onshore gas in Scotland by mining coalbed methane or fracking look doomed after the SNP and Labour both moved to ban them yesterday.

The SNP disclosed that its MPs in Westminster would be voting for a moratorium on both technologies to make sure that no licences are granted before powers are devolved. If agreed, the moratorium could last between 18 and 30 months.

Labour said that if it won the Scottish election in 2016 it would suspend coalbed methane and fracking developments until environmental and health safeguards were in place. Projects would only go ahead if approved by local referendums. 

Neither party is promising to completely rule out developing onshore gas, but both have significantly shifted their positions in response to growing public concern. The moves were welcomed by environmental groups – though they pointed out that the Scottish government still had to make its position clear. 

A major application to extract coalbed methane at Airth, near Falkirk, will soon have to be determined by Scottish ministers, while the Duke of Buccleuch is pursuing a similar development at Canonbie in Dumfries and Galloway. Both are fiercely opposed by local communities.

The failure to regulate underground gas in Canonbie

for Sunday Herald, 25 January 2015

Scotland’s planning and regulatory system has failed to protect the community of Canonbie from the dangers of underground gas exploitation by the Duke of Buccleuch, say residents and campaigners. 

The whole process has been “deeply flawed” and government assurances have turned out to be “meaningless”, they claim. A formal complaint against the planning authority, Dumfries and Galloway Council, is under investigation by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.

Planning permissions for 18 boreholes and a gas plant to extract coalbed methane around Canonbie were granted by the council in 2009 and 2010, then renewed in 2011 and 2013. This all happened with virtually no public scrutiny, and decisions were taken by officials rather than councillors. 

According to critics, the applications managed to slip under the radar because they were treated as individual small developments, rather than being considered together as a major development. Developers have often been accused of splitting potentially controversial projects into more acceptable bite-sized chunks, a tactic known as “salami-slicing”. 

The applications were made by a gas company working in conjunction with Buccleuch, who owns vast tracts of land in the area. They are keen to exploit what they say is “a significant national resource”, but have not yet begun major works.

Call for ban on fracking and underground coal gas development

from Sunday Herald, 16 November 2014

A new coalition of 26 community and environmental groups is today urging the Scottish government to ban fracking for shale gas and drilling for underground coal gas.

The groups, led by Concerned Communities of Falkirk (CCoF) and Friends of the Earth Scotland, are demanding “a moratorium on all forms of unconventional gas development in Scotland”. Risks to public health, workers and the environment are “impossible to regulate away”, they say. 

They also want Scottish ministers to refuse permission for controversial plans to drill 22 wells to extract coalbed methane in Falkirk and Stirling. The plans provoked over 2,500 objections and were the subject of a public inquiry in March and April.

The groups have jointly written an open letter to the Scottish government, published in the Sunday Herald today. They include residents’ organisations from Cumbernauld, Canonbie, Clackmannanshire, Edinburgh, the Highlands and elsewhere concerned about possible developments in their areas.

Other signatories are the trade union, Unison, the Women’s Environmental Network Scotland and the Scottish Hazards Campaign. Two environmental health professors from Stirling University, Andrew Watterson and Rory O’Neill, have also added their names.

Westminster accused of stealing property rights to help frackers

for Sunday Herald, 17 August 2014

The UK government’s minister for Scotland, Alistair Carmichael, is under fire for backing a “Tory raid on people’s property rights” to help fracking companies.

The Scottish energy minister, Fergus Ewing, is writing to Carmichael demanding that he distance himself from Westminster proposals to allow firms to frack for shale gas under land without asking the owner’s permission. 

The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) last week completed a public consultation on fracking, a technique for extracting gas from deep underground by fracturing rocks. It wants to give developers easier access to reserves help kick-start fracking in the UK.

But the Scottish government has lodged an objection to the proposals, and accused UK ministers of pursuing a “gung-ho approach” to the exploitation of underground gas. Scottish ministers, however, have not ruled out allowing shale gas to be fracked north of the border. 

Ewing is responding to an invitation on television from Carmichael, the Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland, to get in touch with any concerns. “This is a key test for Alastair Carmichael – will he back the Scottish government in supporting Scottish householders against this Tory raid on people’s property rights?” Ewing said.

Scotland in line for fracking boom despite environmental dangers

from Sunday Herald, 25 May 2014 

Scotland will soon end its moratorium on the controversial technology of fracking with a major boom in bids to drill for shale gas across the central belt, according to energy companies, experts and environmentalists.

An investigation by the Sunday Herald has uncovered widespread agreement that the hydraulic fracturing of underground rocks to extract shale gas - so far avoided north of the border – is now on its way, boosted by UK government incentives, a company buy-out and a crucial weakening of the Scottish government’s planning conditions. 

A coalition of major oil and gas multinationals has said “shale gas could have an important role to play in Scotland”. A geologist has pointed to the “very strong incentives” for commercial exploitation, and a campaign group has warned that Scotland will be “flooded” with applications for hundreds of fracking wells.

On Friday the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) in London announced a package of proposals to help kick-start fracking across the UK. Companies are to be given new rights to access shale gas underground, and communities next to fracking developments are promised an average of £800,000 in compensation.

Two other moves expected in the next few weeks will further excite interest in fracking Scotland. A new report due from the British Geological Survey will estimate how much shale gas could be contained in the “midland valley” of Scotland, which takes in the whole of the central lowlands.

And DECC is planning to launch the 14th onshore oil and gas licensing round. This will encourage companies to bid for new licences to exploit shale gas across a huge swathe of the central belt.

Coal gas company accused of ‘bullying’ environmental campaigner with legal gag

from Sunday Herald, 25 May 2014 

A coal gas company involving the UK’s biggest private landowner, the Duke of Buccleuch, has been accused of “bullying” after it slapped a fierce legal gag on a lone environmental campaigner.

Lawyers acting for Five Quarter, a Newcastle-based company that wants to exploit gas in coal seams under the seabed, have threatened to sue Ayrshire mother-of-two, Mel Kelly, for “malicious falsehood”. Buccleuch has an eight per cent stake in the company, and a director on its board.

Kelly has written a 42-page report entitled “Theft Of Austerity Britain’s Coal” on what she sees as the dangers of underground coal gasification. It is very critical of Five Quarter, its directors and other companies, and has been widely circulated to politicians and the media.

On 8 May 2014 she was sent an email by the Newcastle commercial law firm, Muckle, ordering her to “cease and desist” distributing her report and accompanying emails in order to avoid costly legal action. This kind of corporate gagging has been termed as a SLAPP – a strategic lawsuit against public participation. 

Muckle required Kelly to remove any reference to her report from any publications, and to provide contact details for all the report’s recipients. It demanded confirmation within 48 hours that these measures would be taken.

Row over radioactive pollution of the Firth of Forth from coal gas plans

from Sunday Herald, 04 May 2014

A fierce row has erupted over radioactive pollution of the Firth of Forth from a major new development to exploit underground gas planned near Falkirk. 

Experts say that controversial proposals to drill for coalbed methane could result in discharges of three times as much radioactivity as the Rosyth naval base, where seven defunct nuclear submarines are moored. The proposals should be rejected, they argue.

But the company behind the development, Dart Energy, dismisses the claims as misleading, erroneous and sensationalist. The impact of any radioactivity released would be “insignificant”, it says. 

Dart has applied for planning permission to drill 22 wells at Airth on the Forth to extract up to 60 billion cubic feet of gas from underground coal seams. The application attracted over 2,500 objections, and was the subject of a public inquiry in March and April.

Evidence submitted to the inquiry by Dart says that “predicted annual discharges” of untreated water from the development could contain up to 1.7 billion becquerels of radioactivity. The radioactivity comes from uranium and thorium deposits deep underground, and is flushed out by mining operations.

‘High risk’ of water pollution from drilling for underground gas, says Sepa report

from Sunday Herald, 16 March 2014

An internal report from Scotland’s environment watchdog warning of a “high risk” of water pollution from drilling for underground gas has been seized on by objectors in the run-up to a major public inquiry opening this week.

The report, written by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) in September 2012, reveals that a flawed and potentially leaky gas borehole was planned at Cumbernauld close to exploratory water wells dug by the maker of Irn Bru, A.G. Barr, and the international sausage skin manufacturer, Devro. There was also “poor borehole construction” at Canonbie, near the English border.

Environmentalists and community groups say that the food industry’s reputation is under threat from the dash to exploit unconventional gas in Scotland. They are preparing to fight plans, at a public inquiry starting on Tuesday, for the UK’s first commercial drilling for coalbed methane in Falkirk and Stirling.

But Sepa pointed out that it has toughened its regulatory oversight and that the Cumbernauld borehole hasn’t yet been drilled. A.G. Barr and Devro both stressed that they are using mains water for their products. 

The Sepa report, marked “internal only”, was written by experts for its Water and Land Policy and Regulatory Support Group and released under environment information law. “The construction of deep boreholes presents a high risk to the water environment,” it says.

Government move creates problem for coal gas development

from Sunday Herald, 20 October 2013

Plans to exploit underground gas in Scotland were dealt a major blow yesterday when the Scottish government announced that it was going to require buffer zones around drilling sites in order to protect local communities.

The announcement was made to coincide with an anti-fracking protest staged by local and environmental groups in the rain outside the SNP annual conference in Perth.

Protestors were told by the Scottish environment minister, Paul Wheelhouse, that the government was intending to toughen up the planning rules for onshore gas developments like coalbed methane and shale gas. “This government listens to local communities and those calling for stronger environmental protection,” he said.

It was the introduction of two-kilometre buffer zones around proposed gas wells in New South Wales, Australia, that forced developer, Dart Energy, to abandon them in favour of pursuing its plans for Scotland. The company’s application to sink 22 wells to extract methane from underground coal seams at Airth near Falkirk has prompted over 2,500 objections and is due to heard at a public inquiry early in 2014.

According to the Scottish government, any proposals to mine for underground gas will now have to “provide an adequate buffer zone between sites and settlements.” But it hasn’t specified how wide the buffer zones should be.

Environmentalists calculate that if it is two kilometres as in Australia, at least half of the wells Dart plans at Airth will be ruled out, making the development economically unviable.